As an example of the medical systems conventionally used in the medical field, a medical system is known in which endoscopic images shot by a video system center during an endoscopic examination are managed by an endoscopic information management system. The video system center is an endoscope processor to which a scope (endoscope) is connected. The endoscope processor may be referred to as an endoscopic video processor or an endoscopic video-image signal processing apparatus.
In the medical system, when an examination based on a reserved examination preset by the endoscopic information management system is performed, endoscopic images shot by the video system center during the examination are transferred to the endoscopic information management system. When the transfer is finished, information related to the examination (including information on the number of endoscopic images shot in the examination) is cleared out (deleted) in the video system center. This is because the storage medium of the video system center has only a limited storage capacity to store information related to examinations.
A medical image management system that includes a plurality of image storage apparatuses is also known as another example of the medical systems used in the medical field (see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-152624). In this system, when a control unit has received examination order information from a HIS/RIS via a communication unit, it is determined on the basis of an image storage status DB of a storage unit whether a medical image obtained in a past examination of a subject patient correlated with the received examination order information is stored in any of a plurality of NASs, and when it is determined that the received information is stored in any of the NASs, an NAS that has stored therein the medical image obtained in a past examination of the subject patient is chosen in advance as a storage location for medical images to be generated using a modality on the basis of the received examination order information. This allows a storage location for medical images to be chosen efficiently while enabling medical images, including images obtained in a past examination of the same patient, to be accessed efficiently at diagnosis.